


Winter is Coming

by TheSovereigntyofReality



Series: The Holmes Estate [3]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, No Bashing, Not Canon Compliant, Not particularly Steve friendly, Rescue Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-24
Updated: 2018-06-10
Packaged: 2019-05-13 11:17:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,061
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14747813
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSovereigntyofReality/pseuds/TheSovereigntyofReality
Summary: It's time to rescue Bucky.





	1. He is There

**Author's Note:**

> **If you recognise it from somewhere else, it isn't mine.**

It had taken months.

Howard had spent the time purging his company of every single HYDRA agent (and there weren’t many of them, but they were clearly aiming for some very critical offices). He then had to replace them. The screening process was long and arduous. Also, he had no idea that his direct underlings were such an incredible bunch of whiners. They disguised it as rational arguments, but it was still whining about having to do so much work.

‘The entire American economy has been infiltrated by a Nazi organisation,’ Howard said. ‘Half of your co-workers got the sack. This is a munitions company.’ As it stood now, anyway. ‘What the hell do you think I pay you for?’

So they’d grumbled and they’d done it and they’d quickly learned that Howard didn’t tolerate anyone cutting corners.

Due to the fact that, the American Intelligence community had to clean itself up, the suspicions of where James Bachanan Barnes was currently being held was put to the British.  
MI6 had been investigating, and they’d finally called him in. Palmer and Acer, the latter of which who had just turned 21, were waiting for him when he arrived in London.

They walked into the offices and then were taken to a private conference room. A file was dropped in front of the three. Howard opened it up.

‘You were right,’ the guy they’d sent in to debrief them said. ‘Sergeant Barnes is in HYDRA’s custody. We found out they’ve involved him in something called the Winter Soldier Program.’

‘The Winter Soldier Program?’ Howard asked. He leaned over and read the data in front of him. He tapped the sheet in front of him. ‘Fennhoff? Yeah, I’ve met this guy but that’s some improvement from what he was doing.’

‘What was he using?’

‘Hypnotism,’ Howard said. ‘He should be sitting in federal prison right now.’

‘He is,’ the agent said. ‘He was in the cell with Arnim Zola.’

‘Who’s Arnim Zola?’ Acer asked. ‘I mean, I heard you mention him over New Years but...’ He shrugged.

‘A HYDRA scientist who, before this, the American government were considering enlisting. He’s been moved.’

‘Good,’ Palmer said. ‘So they’re going to try to apply Fennhoff’s research into brainwashing Barnes, then?’

‘That seems to be the basic idea. They’ve already injected Sgt. Barnes with a variation of the serum Dr. Erskine used on Captain America and the Red Skull and they’ve replaced his right arm with a prosthetic. They are now torturing and isolating him – both tactics that are used in breaking people.’

Howard twisted his lips.

‘They have the serum?’ Acer asked.

‘A version of it.’ One of the other agents slid an envelope across the table. Howard opened it and Palmer and Acer leaned over to look.

‘As you can see,’ the head agent in the room said, ‘when Dr. Erskine left Germany, he left his formula behind. He was fortunate in that no one else could decode his notes properly, but unfortunate in that the Red Skull offered his brainchild his blood to study. We believe they developed and refined it from that.’

‘What kind of state is Barnes in?’ Howard asked.

‘He is in cryogenic sleep most of the time,’ the agent said. ‘It seems that at one point, after he was enhanced, he attempted to escape his captors. However, he does not seem to have suffered any of the ill effects that the Red Skull was afflicted by.’

‘Can you get him out?’

‘We can. Despite the exposure they’ve been subjected to here, they haven’t got too many people on the base.’

‘Where is the base?’ Howard asked.

‘Siberia.’ The agent hesitated. ‘There is one thing we’d like to ask of you, Mr. Stark.’

‘Go ahead.’

‘Due to Sgt. Barnes’s enhancements, and the treatment he’s been subjected to, we’re worried he may react defensively if we were to wake him up while we were transporting him. We’ve consulted several experts and they agree that a familiar face may calm him down somewhat. However, his only living family is a sister who was recently married and is currently pregnant, and two brothers, one a nervous wreck, and one missing a limb from a combat injury. Several sources indicated that he admired you and your work.’

‘You’d like me to come along.’ Howard nodded. ‘Okay. Yeah. I can do that.’

***

Howard, Palmer, and Acer were packing for the trip.

Siberia meant ice and snow – a lot of ice and snow. Jarvis walked into the room with several laundry bags. ‘I’ve just had your snow coats cleaned and pressed, sir.’

‘Thank you, Jarvis,’ Howard said.

Jarvis hung them up nearby. He hesitated a moment. ‘Are you sure about this, sir?’

‘Bucky should have been handed over when the war ended,’ Howard said. ‘The past few years, he’s been subjected to torture and brainwashing tactics. I can hardly just let him stay there, can I? Besides, he put up with more than enough growing up with Steve.’

Jarvis pressed his lips together. ‘I have been meaning to ask something, sir.’

‘Go ahead.’

‘Why the change of heart on Captain Rogers? You used to speak so highly of him.’

Howard stopped packing and looked at him. For a moment he was silent, as if considering. Then he answered. ‘I found out a few things about Steve. He wasn’t the man I thought he was – he wasn’t the man any of us thought he was. The first thing was that Erskine wasn’t as thorough in his selection as I’d been led to believe.’

Jarvis inclined his head curiously.

Howard sighed. ‘Erskine saw Steve for the first time at one of my expos. He saw him trying to fraudulently enlist for the fifth time and decided on him then. Why, I don’t know. Maybe he was desperate, or maybe he was actually looking for an underdog.’ He shrugged. ‘We’ll never know.’

Jarvis looked startled. ‘So why...didn’t they want him in the army?’

‘For a number of reasons, most of them pertaining to Steve’s health. Steve had asthma and a heart murmur, just to begin with. Can you imagine if someone like that was on the field when you were in the army?’

Jarvis was silent.

Howard nodded. ‘Trust me, there was a very good reason no one wanted him. If you went to Brooklyn now and asked about who he was...well, I doubt you’d get too many glowing reviews of his character.’

Jarvis was silent a moment longer and then cleared his throat. ‘So, what’s the plan?’

‘We’re spending a night in London before heading out to Siberia,’ Howard said. ‘MI6 are paying for our rooms seeing as they, and I quote, dragged us into this.’ He huffed. ‘I’d almost forgotten what good manners looked like.’


	2. Preparations and Visitors

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Howard, Palmer, and Acer get ready.
> 
> They receive some unexpected visitors.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Updating on Mondays (Aussie time)

The three men sat around the table, eating the supper that’d been brought up for them.

Howard was looking over the schematics of the cryo-tube that Bucky was being held in. While eating with his left hand, he was scrawling out various notes and details. He finally stopped and sat back around the same time he finished the meal. He picked up his coffee and took a long drink.

‘What’s it look like?’ Palmer asked.

‘I’m no doctor, but I imagine thawing him out will be a painful process and we’ll have to actually stop to do that before we can open the tube up and pull him out.’ Howard scratched the back of his neck. ‘Be helpful if I could have known this earlier. I’m gonna hate telling your version of the feds this.’

‘And they’re gonna hate hearing it,’ Acer remarked with a wry smile. He pressed his lips together for a moment. ‘How long will we be standing there?’

‘I don’t know.’ Howard rubbed his jaw. ‘But I’m estimating a couple of hours.’

Acer nodded and picked up their dirty dishes. ‘I’ll take these down and tell them.’

***

They’d been right.

The MI6 head of the operation wasn’t happy to find out the extraction wouldn’t be an in-and-out situation. But he’d gotten on the horn to his superiors and Acer had begun to head upstairs. He paused, though, when he heard talking downstairs and Peggy Carter’s name. Stopping and looking down, he spotted a greying couple speaking to one of the agents.

It only took a moment to work out who they were, even if the agent seemed confused. ‘If you’re looking for Peggy Carter, she’s not here,’ he said when he came within earshot of them.

The agent and the couple turned their heads. The husband frowned. ‘I thought she might be. I heard that she’d been hanging around Howard Stark a bit and when I heard he had come here and was set to head to Siberia, I assumed it was something to do with her.’

‘I’m afraid not,’ Acer said. ‘But how did you know that, if I may ask? That is, assuming I’m right and you are Miss Carter’s parents?’

‘We are,’ Mr. Carter said. ‘I work in the international relations office in Hampstead. Our daughter took off on her wedding day during the war and we haven’t heard from her since. I was able to track her working for a federal agency in America and associating with Howard Stark, but nothing beyond that.’

‘I see,’ Acer said. ‘Which I presume is where you got the information as to where Howard Stark was.’

‘Yes.’

Acer nodded. ‘Ran off on the day of her wedding, huh?’ He turned slightly. ‘If you’ll follow me, Howard’s this way. He might have more information than I do.’

***

Howard sat, considering Harrison and Amanda Carter in front of him. ‘To be perfectly honest, I didn’t know she was engaged at any point.’ Suddenly, her staying in America after the war ended took on a whole different angle. Her parents wouldn’t be the only people demanding answers. Peg would have known that too. She was a bright lady.

‘Did anything in particular happen on that day which could have prompted her dash?’ Palmer asked.

Mr. Carter nodded. ‘We found out her brother had died. I suppose she must have found out too.’

‘She was always rowdy growing up,’ Mrs. Carter said. ‘I thought she’d mellowed as she grew older. But she was awfully close to Michael. He always encouraged her...unladylike behaviours as a child. I suppose we should have realised how she’d respond to finding out he was gone.’

So Peg did have a period where she was conforming to society but her brother’s death had brought out the Peggy Carter they knew. Howard tapped a finger thoughtfully against the mug in his hand. Then he set it down. ‘I can give you Peg’s address and telephone number if it helps,’ he said. ‘You can contact her yourselves.’

‘Please,’ Mr. Carter said.

Howard grabbed a notepad and picked up a pen. He scrawled Peg’s address and telephone number across the page and then tore it from the pad. He handed it over to Mr. Carter. A part of Howard would have liked to be the metaphorical fly-on-the-wall when they called that number and gave Peg a tongue-lashing.

‘Thank you, Mr. Stark.’ Mr. Carter said. He and his wife excused themselves and left.

Once the door closed behind them, Palmer plopped back into his seat. ‘Fascinating.’

‘Pick up something I didn’t?’ Howard asked. They probably had.

‘Well, what did you notice?’ Acer dropped down on the third chair.

‘Peg was obviously a kind of tomboy as a child,’ Howard said. ‘But it was drummed out of her by everyone except her brother as she got older. She still wanted an exciting life but society itself convinced her that she couldn’t have it because she was a woman. It lasted until her brother died and she re-embraced the sense of adventure she’d had as a little girl.’

‘Good,’ Palmer said. ‘But, did you pick up what it tells us about her now?’

Howard shook his head. ‘That’s more your area than mine.’

‘True enough,’ Palmer said. ‘Her hostility towards people who disagree with her is based on the way she was treated throughout her childhood and is still, to a great extent, treated today. She’s certainly as capable as the men surrounding her, but she’s always been treated as lesser because of it. She was actually nearly put into a role she didn’t want to play because of it as well. This causes her aggravation, especially given that the only one who didn’t do this throughout her childhood was killed in the war. She not only rages against the system, but she rages against society itself – viewing it as the thing that tied her down. She may say she’s fighting to be considered equal, but she’s not.’

Acer nodded. ‘She wants to be superior.’ He nodded his head. ‘So she runs down or uses people who intimidate her. The behaviours you witnessed in her, and experienced from her, are a testament to that. She hauled the Black Widow out of prison to get close to one of her targets – a woman who she knew to have been indoctrinated into a regime that was based on manipulation and killing. She thought she could control her.’ Acer’s eyes narrowed. ‘If you hadn’t caught onto it, I would not want to be an enhanced in ten or twenty years.’

Howard winced, his mind going back to what he’d seen that Christmas night. It hadn’t shown what would become of any enhanced, as Acer said, but he was sure they were there. If one experiment had happened (two if you counted the Red Skull) then what would stop more from following? As controlling as she was, Peg couldn’t stop the whole world from trying to create another super soldier (the fact that HYDRA were doing this to Bucky was a testament to that). There were more and more bound to pop up.

What would Peg want done with them?

‘Speaking of which,’ Howard said, ‘hand me those blueprints, will you? May as well memorise our way around the place before we fly out there.’

Palmer leaned over and picked up the base’s blueprints.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Harrison and Amanda Carter was an opportunity for Howard to get some background on Peg, and, as I said in a previous fic, I got the impression that she told no one why she left her own wedding.
> 
> I was going to use Fred Wells, but I figured a parents would be able to give more details, even if unintentionally.
> 
> I also really wanted to slide this in. X)
> 
> Thank you to MzGreenJeans73 who made the point that Peg wants to be superior, rather than equal.


	3. Rescue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Rescue Mission commences.

**Siberia**  
‘I still can’t believe they let us do this,’ Acer muttered.

‘Well, apparently Stalin doesn’t respond well to people setting up shop in his territories without his permission,’ Palmer said.

‘That’s not the bit I can’t believe.’ Acer shook his head. ‘I can’t believe he’s letting us extract Barnes before he sends his own men in.’

Howard smirked. ‘Even dictators have to use diplomacy. Besides, MI6 promised him any leaders they manage to capture, haven’t they?’

Palmer made a sympathetic sound – or something like a sympathetic sound. ‘I don’t envy those guys. Stalin’s not exactly the kind of guy you want to piss off.’

The walkie-talkie beeped. Palmer answered it. ‘G-3 receiving. Over.’

‘We’re moving in. I repeat, we are moving in. Begin making preparations. Over.’

‘Copy that. Over.’ Palmer set the walkie-talkie aside. ‘It’d be interesting to find out how radio talk developed.’

‘Eh.’ Howard shrugged and opened his pack, pulling out a set of devices. ‘These will help us pick up heat signatures of people. Should make it easier to get in there and get Bucky out.’

‘Won’t Bucky’s body temperature be substantially decreased?’ Acer asked. ‘Or are we looking at any HYDRA grunts that might get too close to us?’

‘Second one,’ Howard said, setting the scanners and then handing Palmer and Acer one each before pocketing the third one.

The three of them waited. Being untrained in field work, it would ordinarily be assumed that they might get antsy; that they might want to move. But all three men were scientists. Half of science was a waiting game: waiting for chemicals to set, waiting for an engine to get warm enough; patiently working one’s way through schematics and scientific data. So Howard, Palmer, and Acer waited in the same way they would in a lab.

When the call came in that it was safe to move in the three men quickly got up and ran across the snow, keeping low.

Palmer only took a moment to check the door before pushing it open. The place was darker than Howard was expecting. Even the artificial lights didn’t cast much light. It gave the place a sense of foreboding and a shiver ran up Howard’s spine. Palmer and Acer looked around with much the same expression he was sure he had.

‘Could do with a dust,’ Acer quipped.

Howard pulled the scanner out of his pocket. Palmer and Acer looked at the scanners he’d given them. It looked like there was a good chunk of heat signatures just east of the room where Bucky was being held. As Howard had said, it would take a few hours to thaw him out. And there was strong evidence in the reports to suggest that moving him without thawing him out wasn’t a viable option.

Following the route they’d long-since memorised, Howard and his cousins walked through the base and to a door which was locked tight. A jingling sound, like metal on metal, got Howard’s attention. He turned and almost barked out a laugh as he saw what Palmer had just pulled out of his coat pocket.

‘Skeleton keys? Where’d you get them?’

‘Leland’s mum was originally a thief,’ Palmer said. He knelt down and inspected the lock before looking through the various keys. ‘And his dad would often skip ahead of Scotland Yard to get cases solved without their, and I quote, “blundering about” so there were quite a few sets of these around the place.’

Howard chuckled. ‘So how did a detective end up with a former thief?’

‘Only woman who ever outsmarted him,’ Acer said. ‘Apparently, our family finds that attractive in a potential life partner. Besides, grandma only did it for the adrenaline rush – mostly.’

Howard made a note of that. When he did meet Tony’s mother, she was bound to be capable of outsmarting him. Part of him revelled in the potential challenge, while another was still terrified at the notion that _he_ , of all people, would actually get married. Marriage meant you were committed to one person, and he quite enjoyed his womaniser lifestyle thank you very much.

The lock clicked and the door opened.

Palmer pushed it open and led them inside. The room – more of a chamber – was empty, save for one black tube at the back of the room. In the centre of the room, there was a large metal chair with cuffs attached and severe-looking instruments all around it. Howard walked over to inspect the cuffs.

Not steel, but titanium.

They were designed so even the strongest of super-soldiers couldn’t escape.

Acer walked to the tube at the back of the room. He leaned up and wiped at the glass that served as a kind of porthole. ‘Howard?’ he called.

Howard walked over to have a look himself. Leaning up, he could see right into what was undoubtedly the cryo-tube. And he recognised the face of the man inside. Bucky Barnes.   
There wasn’t much change in him from what Howard remembered, except that he looked dirty. If he didn’t know better, he’d say that he was just asleep.

‘Yeah, that’s him,’ Howard said. He walked over to the control console, just next to the machine. While the labels were written in Russian, Howard had studied the blueprints and schematics of this thing at length. He’d wanted to know how to use it before he actually got to it. It wasn’t difficult to work out what to press, what to pull, and what to pull to begin the thawing process.

Then the timer – which looked like a repurposed egg timer – started counting down. Judging from how it’d been rigged... ‘We’ve got three hours before we can move him.’

***

Acer, Palmer and Howard moved the torture equipment away from the chair and then Howard began disconnecting the cuffs from the chair – if it could be called that. It wasn’t ideal, and very likely had bad associations attached to it for Bucky, but it was all they had in the moment. A stretcher and a hospital room would be better.

There would be time for that later. In the meantime, Howard, Palmer, and Acer grabbed anything that would be useful and began smashing up the torture equipment.

The Howlies, Howard mused, would be _even better._

***

Palmer leaned in the doorframe as he watched the HYDRA grunts be marched past with their hands on their head. Several glared at him as they passed. Palmer ignored them and waited for the field commander of MI6 to come into view. The agent stopped. ‘That’s all of them. There were a few that fled into the tundra. Have you found Sgt. Barnes?’

‘He’s in here.’ Palmer nodded his head. ‘We’re thawing him out. It’ll take another,’ he checked his watch, ‘two hours and 34 minutes by Howard’s estimation.’

The agent nodded and ordered two of his men to stand guard at the door.

***

The last of the ice thawed.

It’d been drained out by some kind of mechanism inside the cryo-tube. Howard pulled the release mechanism. With a hiss, the tube opened. Bucky was still unconscious and he fell forward, right into Palmer’s and Acer’s waiting grips. Both of them stumbled under his weight and struggled to haul him over to the chair. A glint in the darkness alerted Howard to the bulky metal contraption in the place of his right arm.

That would account for the weight.

‘Do you reckon we get an award for this?’ Acer huffed.

Palmer didn’t sound much better. ‘What would you do with your share?’

‘Get laparoscopic repair done!’

They hefted Bucky onto the chair and pulled his legs around. As those two panted for breath, Howard walked over. He opened his breast pocket and pulled out a tube out.   
Uncapping it, he waved it under Bucky’s nose. After a moment, Bucky seemed to stir.

His expression tightened and he slowly opened his eyes. Looking around, his brow furrowed in confusion. Howard reminded himself that Bucky had been extensively tortured. HYDRA had been attempting to wipe his memory. It was even likely that the one “familiar face” Bucky wouldn’t recognise. He looked around, at Palmer, at Acer, and then he focused on Howard.

Judging from the scrutiny he was getting, Howard guessed that his memory wasn’t completely gone. ‘Bucky?’ Howard asked. ‘Can you recognise me?’

Something sparked in Bucky’s eyes. For a moment longer he stared. ‘Buck...?’

Shit, he couldn’t even remember his nickname.

Then something flittered into his eyes. ‘...Howard?’

‘Yes,’ Howard said. ‘So you do remember me?’

Bucky’s eyes skated around. ‘...Kinda...’

‘It’s all right,’ Howard said. ‘You have time. We’re getting outta here, though. Can you stand?’

Bucky looked around again and, hesitantly, he swung his legs around to set them down on the floor. As he put his weight on them, he winced. Howard moved around to help him. Palmer moved to his other side. Getting Bucky to walk out was taxing and time-consuming but they slowly worked him out of the hell-hole he’d spent the last few years in and out of the bunker.

As soon as they stepped outside, Bucky flinched from the light.

Then he looked around, and his eyes lit up in wonder.


	4. Welcome Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bucky needs some time and help.
> 
> He gets both.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a disclaimer: I'm not sure how long it would take to get Bucky back to a semblance of "normal", but the serum is contributing to his healing process.

**Holmes Estate, England**  
Things had been slowly filtering back to Bucky.

On the ride back to England, he’d suddenly gone, ‘Oh, shit! What happened to Steve?’

Howard had been surprised by the question, or rather the abruptness of it, but he’d answered. Bucky had then leaned forward and dropped a hand into his head. He grumbled to himself, but kept quiet the rest of the ride back. When they arrived at the manor, the doctor was already waiting – the same one his Uncle Lambart had sent, and who had told him his mother had really been poisoned.

Dr. Shields took one look at the way Bucky was walking and then glanced at his right arm. Upon seeing it was metal, he said, ‘Howard, take the metal arm off of him.’

‘Huh?’ Bucky had looked down at his arm.

‘It’s too heavy,’ Dr. Shields said, guiding him to sit down. ‘That’s why you’re kind of swaying while you’re walking. I don’t care how strong you are. This thing will be putting a strain on your right side.’

So Howard had grabbed a screwdriver and a wrench and began taking the arm off as Dr. Shields gave Barnes a check up. Dr. Shields asked him a lot of questions too, most of them pertaining to exactly what he’d gone through, physically, in HYDRA’s hands. He struggled with a lot of it, but Dr. Shields didn’t push him.

‘You’re in good condition,’ Dr. Shields said as soon as he finished. ‘Physically, anyway. However, you’ve been through a very traumatic experience. I’d recommend psychoanalytical therapy. Emotional pain, you’ll find, is actually a lot like a mixture of gases in a bottle.’

‘Meaning?’ Bucky asked.

‘It’s gonna explode if you don’t slowly let it out,’ Howard said.

‘Okay. And psychoanalytical therapy?’ Bucky asked.

‘It’s relatively new,’ Dr. Shields said. ‘The idea is basically to talk about your issues with an impartial third party. The results so far seem more favourable than any other form of psychiatric treatment. This isn’t something that’s just going to go away and it’ll only get easier to deal with if you have a professional guiding you on how to deal with it. I got some names of some good ones if it helps.’

Bucky nodded.

‘Feel better, Bucky?’ Howard asked as he disconnected and relieved Bucky of that monster of a thing – and the insult to engineering – that had been sitting in place of his right arm.

‘Yeah.’ Bucky pulled a face.

‘What’s wrong?’ Howard asked.

‘It’s just...I don’t know how to explain it, but I don’t feel like _Bucky_.’

‘That’s normal for torture survivors,’ Dr. Shields said – and Howard had to catch himself for asking how he knew that. ‘You’re probably suffering from a level of disassociation. You feel dislocated from who you were before the ordeal.’

‘That’s okay,’ Howard said. ‘We can call you something else for a while.’

Bucky smiled.

‘You want a new arm?’ Howard asked. ‘Cause we both know I can do better than _this_.’ He dumped the arm, cringing at it in disgust.

‘If so, it’d need to be at least 65% lighter.’

‘Later on, maybe,’ Bucky said, ‘but not anytime soon.’

‘Sure thing.’

It was only later that Howard asked Palmer how Dr. Shields knew the aftermath of torture.

‘There were a bunch of allied doctors pulled in after the war,’ Palmer said, ‘for the Holocaust survivors. Dr. Shields was one of them. A lot of the long-term patients they ended up with had actually been experimented on. Concerning the aftermath of torture, he cut his teeth on that time period.’

***  
**Manhattan, NY – 6 months later**  
James Barnes turned his head as Howard’s butler, Jarvis, opened the patio door and let in Col. Philips.

When they’d arrived back in America, the Colonel had some people sent in to check on him and see what he wanted to do. Seeing as the Howlies were still together – and wasn’t that a surprise? – James decided he’d like to eventually join them. This was the first time the Colonel himself had shown up though, but he was a busy guy. Dr. Shields had been right. Talking to a head shrink about what’d happened in HYDRA’s custody had helped him a great deal.

Howard had let him spend his recovery period in his Manhattan mansion, and he’d even let Bucky have visitors – in the form of his younger brothers and sister who’d rushed to see him when they’d heard he was still alive. His sister had even gotten married and had a child in the time he’d been gone so he met his new brother-in-law and nephew.

In the time he’d been staying here, Howard had been crafting that promised arm. By the time Bucky felt ready to have it attached, Howard had a fully-functioning arm that was almost like the real thing. The base for it that HYDRA had put in was apparently very useful for Howard and he was able to build the second arm not only far lighter but it responded to the signals Bucky’s brain put out.

‘Stark,’ he greeted Howard first and then he looked at James. ‘Barnes. Good to see you again.’

‘Thank you, Colonel,’ James said. ‘Am I right in assuming you got the report on my progress?’

‘You are.’ The Colonel sat down. ‘Your shrink says you’re stable enough but he’d still like to check up on you once a month, which ought to do for a Howling Commando reunion. You feel up to rejoining them?’

‘I think so, yes,’ James said.

Col. Philips nodded approvingly. He looked at Howard. ‘You really want to do it this way?’

Howard smirked. ‘Well, think about the looks on their faces.’

James snorted in amusement.

Even the hard-nosed Colonel looked amused.

***

The Commandos had been called back stateside for a debrief.

Col. Philips sat at the head of the table, with only Howard Stark joining him. It confused the Commandoes, but they hadn’t asked questions. They greeted the inventor and weapons manufacturer and sat down. Col. Philips let them get comfortable before he got started and made it very clear why Howard was here.

‘Late last year,’ Col. Philips said, ‘Howard became aware of a situation that required our attention. However, seeing as we were currently engaged in...dealing with HYDRA’s infiltration, he and his cousins in England took it to the British Intelligence service. Their mission was a success.’

‘What was the mission?’ Dum Dum asked.

The answer came from behind them. ‘Turns out it’s hardly the first time a river has saved a man falling from a cliff.’

The Howlies all spun around to find themselves looking at one of their own – long-since thought lost. Sergeant James “Bucky” Barnes was leaning against the doorframe. His arms were folded and there was the start of a grin on his face. For a moment, the Howlies stared with their mouths hanging open.

Then, completely forgetting their military decorum, they all surged at him.

‘Sarge!’

Bucky laughed as he was tackled by five men.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next series is Howard and Maria. :)
> 
> In the meantime, I have a one-shot I'll put up in a couple of weeks.


End file.
